This is not a pipe.

It is merely an image of a pipe.

René Magritte

"Oh! The cleverness of me!"

Peter Pan

~Ferdinando

By the Way...

That was the 100th post... 

Cheer!

A King of Infinite Space

"I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams."

That right there was said by good old William Shakespeare. I'm thinking Great English wordsmith, my enemies and crew are thinking Shake! Spear! Quick, name that flick! Oh, sorry, I was saying something, wasn't I? Right. So the above quote was said by the prince of Denmark himself in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is one of my favorite plays by Shakespeare and that is one of my favorite lines from Shakespeare. Hamlet is a classic. There have been over 60 film adaptations of Hamlet and over 21 television adaptations have been created since 1907. Intense, right? See the things google can teach you...?

With that many adaptations abound there have been a ton of actors that have attempted to put their own spin on the tormented prince. Whether they play him young and immature, dirty and crazy, or older and overly thoughtful, there is always something interesting to look for that the actors bring to the character. 

I think I have always enjoyed Hamlet in the same way I have enjoyed Catcher in the Rye. Hamlet was always my Holden Caulfield. The tormented youth. Both aware and vastly afraid of the future and what must become of him. I think Hamlet was the first teenage trouble maker.  A little depressed, a little rebellious, and a lot more fear than they were both willing to admit. 

Next in line to take the heavy crown is Emile Hirsch. 

I love that guy. He comes off as a very smart man for the job. Cute, but not too much. A great actor. Smart. Mini-crush, I get it. Maybe you should consider the parts he's played in. Milk, the Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys, Speed Racer, Into the Wild, Taking Woodstock. He's a diverse actor with a lot of talent under his belt. Catherine Hardwick is set to direct this version and its set to release in 2011. Can I admit that I am definitely going to keep my eyes on this one? 

Other Hamlets:

Ethan Hawke, Hamlet (2000)

Jude Law, stage adaptation, Hamlet (2009)

Mel Gibson, Hamlet (1990)

Obviously, these aren't the only people that have played Hamlet. Kenneth Branagh more than quite successfully portrayed Hamlet in 1996 with a very entertaining rendition. Overall, I don't think there is any right way or wrong way to play the legendary character, but in no way will I give up on my own interpretation. It's why I love him.

Get out of here. Go read yourself some Shakespeare.

~Ferdinando        

Just One of Those Days

- I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option. - More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me. - Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. - Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk. - I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. - The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again. - Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft. - There is a great need for sarcasm font. - Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what in the world was going on when I first saw it. - I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it. - How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? - I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in. - The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text. - Was learning cursive really necessary? - Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say". - I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. - Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying. - My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro. - Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart". - How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said? - I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers! - Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm. ..Goonies" - What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other? - While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart. - MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. - Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. - I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water. - Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. - I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. - Bad decisions make good stories - Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do! - If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible. - Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem.... - You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day. - Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection. - There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far. - I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to. - "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever. - I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?' - While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed. - I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away? - I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste. - I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes. - Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles... - As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists. - Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. - I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. - Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it. - Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys, finding what they need in a giant purse, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet a million dollars everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time... - My 4-year old brother asked me in the car the other day "What would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that? - It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text. - I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit. - I think the freezer deserves a light as well. - I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay. ~Ferdinando

Calling All Screenwriters

Right. So I love to write. I have loved to write for as long as I could remember and I think it goes hand in hand with my love of reading. While I have fiddled around with different types of writing, one avenue that I always found interesting was screenwriting. That, of course, comes from my love of movies. [I am a complete pop culture freak as you can see.]
Screenwriting is different from other kinds of writing because of the focus on all things visual. I can't stress that enough. You only write what you see. You cannot say:

Michael got in the car and turned on his headlights. He 

began driving towards Lori's house when his phone rang.

Why not? Because how do I know he was driving towards Lori's house? Even if the previous scene had him telling a friend, "I'm going to Lori's house now," you still can't put it in the description. Instead you must just say that he got in the car and pulled out and blah blah blah - what do I see.
Interesting, right? I love it.

I have read quite a few articles and books on screenwriting and my favorite book BY FAR has been Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing.

This is a book that was recommended to me by a man that worked in "the business" for over 50 years. Apparently its highly regarded in many writer circles. Lajos Egri writes from the perspective of a playwright but I wouldn't brush it off on that fact alone. No matter if you are a playwright, novelist, or screenwriter, I am sure that this book would work wonders on your thinking as a writer.

Screenwriting is a profession that has many many rules. From what I can gather from this book, playwriting does as well. What makes writing so amazing, however, is the pushing of the boundaries. This means finding your creativity in a rigid formula of how to write. It seems claustrophobic but it is freeing. Once you understand the basic rules of how to space it, how to present dialogue, inserts, descriptions, extensions, transitions, shots, and all the do's and dont's that come with the Hollywood club, it's up to you to make it work.

The Art of Dramatic Writing is not a screenwriting book. Once again, Egri does not tell you the rules, so if you don't know them you will need to find another way to find out. The book does tell you how to make sense of your ideas of writing in a way that's enlightening and attractive. I found myself carrying this book around to read on the subway or in between classes. Just for kicks.

~Ferdinando

The Best Thing About Shutter Island is the Music: A Review

..Not to say that the movie was bad. Actually, quite the opposite, in fact. But I couldn't take my mind off the sound. You disagree? You think the buildup during times when there was nothing to build up to was horrible. Oh man. But didn't you notice even more then when there was no sound at all? When all you heard was the dripping of water from a leaky pipe? That was more suspenseful than anything that plays in the background of modern horror films, when as soon as the music plays you decide whether or not you wanted to cover your eyes.

It's a tonal score, there's no melody in the whole soundtrack. Robbie Robertson and Martin Scorcese collaborated to create an  unconventional score in a contemporary film that you wouldn't much expect it from.
Fantastic. I certainly didn't expect it.

As for the movie, I think it began slower than I wanted it to but eventually it picked up and even the anticipation of the frightening parts didn't stop me from being surprised. The film noir style was slightly cheesy at times but overall a fresh take on a genre that feels like it's being beaten over the head again and again with the same story.

And didn't you love the contrasting colors between real life and dreaming??

The acting is phenomenal, but I have always stood by the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio is a fantastic actor. It even managed to pull in $14 Mil on opening day. This puts it on par with the Departed financially, but I don't think anyone would really say it makes it there in terms of quality.

Not many people will be surprised at the ending, but everyone should pay attention to the last line DiCaprio's character says before the end of the film. Bloody Brilliant.

~Ferdinando

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

-Goethe